The family of Michael Jackson will arrive in a court room tomorrow seeking a
staggering $40 billion in damages for the singer's death in what would be
one of the largest wrongful death settlements in history.

It is nearly four years since Jackson was found lifeless in a Beverly Hills mansion, after a lethal dose of the prescription anaesthetic propofol, but the bitter recriminations over who was responsible are about to get even nastier.

The incompetence of Conrad Murray, the performer's personal physician who has already been convicted of involuntary manslaughter, was the direct cause of his demise.

But Jackson's family, led by their 82-year-old matriarch Katherine Jackson, will spend the next three months attempting to prove the overall fault lay with AEG Live, a corporate entertainment behemoth that was bankrolling his planned series of comeback concerts at the O2 Arena in London.

In the Jackson family's eyes Murray was merely a pawn whose calamitous mistake administering propofol was symptomatic of the lack of care shown to the physically and mentally frail musician by a promoter blinded by dollar signs.

The case is already mired in acrimony and nothing will be off limits in court. Jackson's medical records will be revealed to prove the depths of his dependency on drugs, and AEG Live lawyers will point to his child molestation trial and acquittal in 2005 as the starting point of a drug-induced downward spiral.

For their part Jackson lawyers have already accused AEG Live attorneys of being overly aggressive when taking statements from the singer's son Prince, 16. The AEG Live legal team has angrily denied that, and accused Jackson lawyers of trying to "whip things up into a frenzy," and of deploying Prince and his sister Paris, 15, as witnesses in an attempt to emotionally sway the jury.

In preliminary court skirmishes Brian Panish, the Jackson's attorney, accused AEG Live of fighting every point like it was "World War III." The two sides even argued over who should pay for video equipment in the courtroom, with Mr Panish saying: "I'm not AEG, I'm not worth billions of dollars. AEG can afford it."

The wood-paneled court room where the case will play out is just two blocks from where Murray was convicted and jailed for four years in 2011.

Judge Yvette Palazuelos, 50, has taken steps to avoid a media circus, rejecting US network requests for cameras in court. Jackson's family had wanted the cameras, but AEG Live said it would put their witnesses at risk of attack by crazed fans of the "King of Pop."

The judge, who has previously handled civil cases involving Rihanna, Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson's ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, is also trying to prevent grandstanding by limiting opening statements to two-and-a half hours. But with a list of likely witnesses including the Jackson children, music stars Diana Ross and Prince, and Jackson's ex-wives Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe, a circus seems inevitable.

If the Jackson family are successful the amount of damages would ultimately be decided by a jury of six men and six women, who include a personal banker, a teacher, a nurse and a software engineer.

In Los Angeles it took a month to find 12 jurors who did not have a strong opinion about the singer's death, and some potential jurors disqualified themselves because they objected to the amount of money involved.

The $40 billion figure is based on the Jackson family's assessment of the performer's potential future earnings, had he not died. AEG Live calls the amount "preposterous" for a singer in decline, and "a hope, a dream, that's not a basis for damages." Should the Jacksons win an award of less than a few billion is considered more likely.

The court arguments will centre primarily on whether AEG Live, or Jackson himself, were responsible for employing the negligent Murray. At the time of his death neither AEG Live nor Jackson had actually signed the doctor's $150,000-a-month contract.

According to Mrs Jackson's 18-page complaint: "At the time of his death Michael Jackson was under the immediate care of a doctor selected by, hired by, and controlled by AEG. Due to AEG's actions and inactions three loving children lost their father and the world lost its most celebrated entertainer.

"AEG, despite its knowledge of Michael Jackson's physical condition, breached its duties by putting its desire for massive profits from the tour over the health and safety of Michael Jackson."

The complaint details how Jackson had signed an "artist loan out agreement" with the promoter and was then advanced "substantial sums of money." If he failed to perform in London then AEG Live would have the right to plunder his assets, which included the back catalogues of The Beatles and Aretha Franklin.

Jackson had begun missing "gruelling" rehearsals and, a week before his death, was "read the riot act" and given "no choice but to accept AEG's dangerous demands or suffer the consequences," the complaint said.

At the heart of the Jackson case will be emails from AEG Live executives.

One described seeing Jackson "drunk and despondent" in a London hotel suite, and said he was "an emotionally paralysed mess riddled with self loathing and doubt now that it is show time."

Another, written 11 days before his death, said: "We want to remind (Murray) that it is AEG, not MJ, who is paying his salary. We want to remind him what is expected of him."

A few days after that Kenny Ortega, Jackson's show director, emailed AEG Live with concerns that Jackson was cold and shivering, and exhibiting "paranoia, anxiety and obsessive-like behaviour." In response he was told that Murray was "an extremely successful" doctor.

AEG Live says the emails have been taken "completely out of context."

According to their lawyer Marvin Putnam, who will go head-to-head with Mr Panish in court, there was no pressure placed on Jackson to perform.

He said executives visited the singer five days before his death because they were worried he had flu-like symptoms, adding: "Mr Jackson was emphatic about the idea that he was great. 'You guys are all worrying about nothing. Look at me. I am fine.' I don't know how you can't look to Mr Jackson's responsibility there. He was a grown man."

Jackson and his children had previously been treated by Murray in Las Vegas and according to Mr Putnam: "He was chosen by Michael Jackson. He was brought to Los Angeles by Michael Jackson."

Murray himself, who was sentenced to the maximum four years in jail on his conviction, was subpoenaed to appear but is invoking his Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions. He has just launched an appeal against his involuntary manslaughter conviction.

In a bizarre rambling phone message left recently on a friend's answering machine he said: "If I am compelled to speak (in court) I can cause one party or the other to experience the impact of an immediate seismic shock."

Murray is less shy about talking to the media, telephoning several US television networks from jail. On one recent occasion he rang up and sang a rendition of "The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot."

He maintains that Jackson injected himself with propofol while he was out of the room. On the eve of the wrongful death case, Murray said: "I have lost a very dear friend and a very dear person to me but I'm not going to accept responsibility for anything that I did not do."